According to a recent report from Fortune, a new research note from Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig claims that T-Mobile USA may be preparing to announce that it will begin offering the iPhone next week. It’s important to point out that the claim doesn’t appear to be based on any specific information and instead Craig notes that “speculation is heightening” about such a move. Fortune mentions the following regarding the issue:

Now Merrill Lynch's Scott Craig is out with a note reporting that "speculation is heightening" that Deutsche Telecom (DT) will announce a deal to bring the iPhone to its U.S. subsidiary at next week's analysts day (12/6-7).

It makes sense. The carrier recently beefed up its iPhone-compatible high-speed HSPA+ network in 10 metropolitan areas, allowing some of the 1.5 million T-Mobile customers already using unlocked iPhones to enjoy something better than GSM download speeds.

As of right now, T-Mobile has adopted a “Bring Your Own iPhone” program to help users move their unlocked iPhones to the carrier. This is the case while T-Mobile works to re-farm its spectrum to move its fastest data services over to iPhone-compatible frequencies. T-Mobile previously stated that the spectrum re-farming would make the carrier ready for the iPhone by the end of 2012, while acknowledging that its lack of the iPhone has cost the company customers and revenue on a number of separate occasions.

It should be pointed out that although T-Mobile would clearly like to carry the iPhone and has been configuring its network to be able to support it, there hasn’t been any direct evidence or sources claiming that the device will be coming to the fourth-largest carrier in the United States. For those of you who have been holding out on T-Mobile or hoping for the carrier to finally obtain the iPhone as part of its network, news could go either way but the way I see it, you only have good news ahead because eventually, T-Mobile will get official support for the device.

We've always had T-mo but not 3G. T-mobile 3G has never been compatible with the iPhone, not until recently after the at&t T-mo merger failed and T-Mobile used the settlement money to make their towers compatible

We've always had T-mo but not 3G. T-mobile 3G has never been compatible with the iPhone, not until recently after the at&t T-mo merger failed and T-Mobile used the settlement money to make their towers compatible